Intermediate Algebra (6th Edition)

by
Martin-Gay, Elayn

Answer

20.5, 27.8

Work Step by Step

We use a similar process as the previous problem. We let one side be x, and the other side be x+7.3. This gives:
$$x(x+7.3)=569.9$$
$$x^2+7.3x-569.9=0$$
We know that:
$$x= \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$$
We substitute to find:
$$x= \frac{-7.3 \pm \sqrt{7.3^2-4(1)(-569.9)}}{2(1)}$$
When we only consider the positive values, we get:
20.5
We plug this back into the equation to find the length of the other side:
20.5+7.3=27.8